


There Stands His Shadow

by Scarlettpeony



Category: Bravely Default: Flying Fairy
Genre: Aftermath, Angst, Family, Gen, Self-Acceptance, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-05
Updated: 2014-11-05
Packaged: 2018-02-24 05:59:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2570711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scarlettpeony/pseuds/Scarlettpeony
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ringabel comes to terms with who he really is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There Stands His Shadow

**Author's Note:**

> Set after the game's story. Major spoilers for Ringabel's character.

There it stood before him, tall and proud as the man who had once occupied it. The only part of Alternis Dim that had been recovered. It seemed too large and intimidating to truly have ever held him though. Its pitch back metal shimmered, custom made to fit Alternis perfectly, reflecting the immense dark magic that lay within his soul.

 

_We are the same_ , Ringabel thought to himself. _So why do I feel so wrong in taking this armour?_

 

Perhaps it was because ultimately this was not his armour, nor was it his life. He was an interloper from another world, a man who used to be a man named Alternis Dim but not the man who people had known in this world. The moment he lost everything all over again, cradling the Edea he had once loved in his arms as the ship spiralled out of control, he became Ringabel.

 

A man who reminded people of someone else, but he was not that person. He was something else entirely. A oddity.

 

‘Is there something wrong, my son?’

 

The gentle, inviting tone of Braev Lee sent a shiver down Ringabel’s back as he slowly turned away from the armour to face the man who resembled his saviour. To hear him call him “son” still felt alien. It had been alien to Alternis too, he was sure.

 

_But I_ am _Alternis_ , Ringabel reminded himself. _We are both_ _Alternis Dim._

 

‘Forgive me, my lord,’ Ringabel bowed. ‘I was merely—‘

 

‘You do not need to explain,’ Brave replied, stepped forward. He was leaning on the walking stick that supported his weight, clearly not yet used to being so immobile. It sent a guilt jolt through Ringabel’s mind. It had been partly his fault this had happened.

 

He stopped at Ringabel’s side, staring at the costume that came with the Dark Knight asterisk. One that Ringabel himself held too from time to time. Not once had he felt comfortable in it. Perhaps because the feeling of releasing all the darkness within his soul just brought back all those memories…

 

‘You will be at the Council meeting, I hope,’ Braev broke the silence which had dragged for a full minute without Ringabel even noticing.

 

‘If you desire me to be so,’ Ringabel replied plainly. ‘Although, I still feel a little… misplaced.’

 

‘May I ask why?’

 

‘Because everyone expects me to be… him.’

 

He eyed the armour again.

 

‘And I’m not,’ he continued. ‘Perhaps I was once but… I’m not anymore.’

 

‘That is where you are wrong, Ringabel,’ came Braev’s reply.

 

He placed a strong hand on the young man’s shoulder, the weight of it almost too much for Ringabel to bear. It was partly his guilt but mainly knowing that it was partly due to Braev’s injuries that he was leaning on him so much now.

 

‘You are Ringabel,’ he said. ‘But that doesn’t mean you ever stopped being Alternis.’

 

‘Not _this_ Alternis, though.’

 

That is what bothered him the most. There may well be millions of other Alternis Dims out there and a handful of Ringabels too, but there had only been one Alternis in this world and it wasn’t him. In some ways, he felt as if he was stealing this world from the man it had once belonged to, like a changeling.

 

‘No,’ Braev said weakly. ‘That is true…’

 

Ringabel couldn’t help but notice that is tone was cracking in his throat, betraying a genuine grief. Of course it did — Alternis Dim had been the son he had never had. He had been a small waif with nothing but bitterness and hatred in his heart until Braev Lee had reached out his hand and offered him a greater purpose. He had taught that boy that his darkness need not be a tool for destruction but could be channeled into a greater purpose: to protect the people he loved.

 

_‘I don_ _’t love anyone_ _—‘_

 

Those had been the boy’s words. But they were not said in spite, but weak and tired. He had collapsed against the strange adult who had offered his hand and meekly allowed him to carry him away from the street corner he had been previously slumped.

 

_‘—and_ _…no one loves me._ _’_

 

Those words were ingrained on Ringabel’s memories. He could not certain that these had been this Dim’s rebuttal to the Templar’s kindness, but given the similarities between their diaries, he imagined they truly had shared the same pitiful life up until they became the retainer of the Lee family.

 

‘I count my blessings that you are here nonetheless,’ the Templar finally said.

 

Ringabel bowed his head again, ‘And I am honoured for that, my lord. But—‘

 

‘But you are not the son I knew,’ came the anticipated replied. ‘Yet I am a fortunate man, more fortunate than many other Braev Lee, I imagine.’

 

‘How so?’

 

‘Think of your own father—‘ Ringabel supposed that he meant the Templar from his world, ‘—he had to endure the loss of both his children.’

 

A pang of guilt shot through the younger man’s heart again.

 

‘I sent my son to his death the day the Pillar of Light appeared, and I am sure that your father believes that too. For all he knows, you died along with Edea and the others when the Great Chasm opened up in another world and you awoke here.’

 

Ringabel could not help but smile. ‘To this day I haven’t a clue how I managed to survive…’

 

‘I suppose I hope that somehow, some way,’ Braev smiled, ‘that perhaps Alternis too survived and awoke in another world as another Ringabel. A naive hope I know, but a hope nonetheless.’

 

The two men turned to face each other.

 

‘It is your choice who you want to be Ringabel,’ were the Templar’s final words. ‘You can don this armour and become Alternis Dim once again, live the life that is rightfully yours - and it is yours - or you can take up any other asterisk and continue on as Ringabel.’

 

He patted his shoulder firmly.

 

‘Only you can choose though.’

 

Finally, Braev Lee turned to walk away again, leaving Ringabel alone in “his” room with only his thoughts. He didn’t quite know what he was thinking, though.

 

 

*

 

 

Edea paced about her room, clutching the Templar asterisk to her heart. She had mastered all the skills - from magical to the physical yet this would be her final stage, the job that had made her father so revered and great.

 

'I promise to make you proud, father,' she said quietly to herself.

 

She turned around to see her family: father, mother and... "brother". There in the black armour of the Dark Knight. Her words were caught in her throat when she saw him. Her breath stilled.

 

'Ringabel?' she said tentatively.

 

Bashfully, he removed his helmet. His voice was cracked and throaty.

 

'I am Alternis now,' he told her. 'And I am here to serve you, commander...'

 

He fell onto his knee and lowered his head.

 

'...my love. Until my dying breath.'

 

Edea bit her bottom lip in an uncertain, unqueenly manner. Then she remembered herself and stood up strong. It was time to raise her head and pull herself together. They had been through so much, it seemed alien to think of him as anyone other than Ringabel. It still hurt to think that other Alternises had died through her misjudgement with Airy.

 

It hurt to think that her Ringabel had been the brother of another Edea. One who had died, just as the boy she had played, argued with and taught to read, was dead.

 

She nodded.

 

'Please stand... Alternis,' she requested.

 

He obeyed. His face was unreadable. But then she took his hand so he would stand beside her, so that they were finally level and equal.

 

'We will serve each other,' Edea told him, and her parents. 'We will lead the people together, to create a fair and balanced world, if you will stand beside me...'

 

Ringabel's heart swelled with something wonderful. A strong emotion he had not felt for a long time. Was it... pride? Acceptance? Or maybe it was love?

 

'I would be honoured,' he finally replied.

 

He knew what he had to do. It was time to cast off "Ringabel" and retake his true name. He was Alternis Dim, the holder of the Dark Knight asterisk, master of dark magic and a protector of the realm. He had to become that man again, and he had to be better than he ever was.


End file.
